environment earth story Farms over rooftops !!! Rahul Pradhan Societies evolve over time. Lifestyles change. In order to meet our unappeasable hunger for comfort and luxury, our visions have been so blurred by the dreams of glittering city lights and the marvels of sky-high buildings that we let our conscience go astray. We let concrete and steel replace the once fertile lush green fields. In the process, we even tried to push nature beyond its limits attempting the use of various chemicals in order to satisfy our ever-growing demands of food supply which in turn has given rise to various new diseases, posing a threat to the existence of our species itself. Now, however, in these critical hours, innovative and sophisticated environment friendly approaches are being made in various sectors. One such appreciable step is the concept of rooftop-farming being practised within the local community of Subidhanagar, Kathmandu. The inception Mr. Shashi Bikram Rana, an honourable man in his sixties and president of Ekikrit Upabhokta Samiti, Subidhanagar’ was humble enough to provide us his invaluable time to shed some light on the concept of ‘roof-top farming’ being practised within his community at Subidhanagar. Mr. Rana, previously a teacher at Ratna Rajya HS School for five years, later worked and retired from Karmachari Sanchaya Kosh in 1998. He also worked in Krishi Aayojanaa Sewa Kendra and was involved in various programs related to agriculture. As he recalls, the concept of the farming generated after one of his former students and the Program Manager at the UN Habitat, Er. Padma Sundar Joshi expressed a humble desire to launch a community project related to organic farming. As a result, a workshop on ‘rooftop farming’ was organised in 2013 on joint efforts of KMC, UN Habitat, RUAF Foundation and ENPHO Nepal with the participation of about 25 households of the community. The workshop included training sessions on preparation of compost manure, soil, cultivation and organic pest control techniques. Furthermore, according to Mr. Rana, the organizers have announced to honour the best practitioner after a certain interval of time based on their evaluation. The participants of the workshop were also provided with the seeds, some handy tools required for the farming and compost bin The outcome This project has helped people to engage physically and provide fresh vegetables for better health. Further, Mr. Rana states that the most praiseworthy outcome of the project is the improved co-operation among the community members that solved the present issues of isolated neighbourhood in the urban areas. Proudly showing us the vegetables from his little garden, he said with a certain glow on his face, “We cooperate and share the seeds and the tools among us. This has improved closeness among the neighbours.” Another major benefit is the intelligent use of waste materials for a productive purpose. For instance, the used thermocol boxes from the fish market, broken plastic vessels and even broken chairs have been used to fill with soil for plantation. This proves to be an ingenious and simple way of reducing the waste materials produced from residents and putting them to some creative use. Similarly, organic wastes from kitchen and dead leaves are used for making compost manure. According to Mr. Rana, the water demand of plants is met by rain water and waste water from kitchen. Furthermore, he also shed some light on an observation conducted by the organizers of the workshop which showed the reduction in heat island effect due to the use of roof-top farming The final words In the end of the conversation, with a solemn expression, Mr. Rana said,”The human population will continue to increase but the fertile lands will not.” With these meaningful words, he emphasised on the need of public awareness about these projects and also hoped for positive efforts from government sectors. This approach of roof-top farming is both affordable and appreciable method of embracing a healthy lifestyle. Moreover, it is high time for us human beings who have been dubbed the most intelligent of the species, to rise above our arrogance and make some efforts from individual level to contribute for environmental benefit.
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 14:37:04 +0000
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